I’ve spent the last couple of days with McBusted, engineering material for their record. People tend to assume, not unfairly sometimes, that bands whose product is not solely a musical one are not great musicians. The mind fills with images of production teams, massed around a huge computer, digitally massaging the horror into a flat, banal facsimile of music, and frantically grabbing for the session musician rolodex to save their bacon. Well, nothing could be further from the truth in this case. Yes ok, they’re a fine-looking bunch, clearly experienced in the pantomime of the pop music industry, but in the studio they’re not fucking around! I found myself working with a drummer who could hit the kick and snare, in time, at exactly the same intensity on every hit (rare), a bassist and guitar players who came up with and nailed their parts in minutes, not hours, and five guys singing lead vocal parts, none of whom I wished were another when the red light came on. And they genuinely do write the good bits. I come away from this session feeling that quite a lot of bands who consider themselves musically ‘above’ McBusted, would fall far short of this level of talent, never mind professionalism. Like.

Now look here...

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“Jack was instrumental in helping us achieve the sound we needed for Walking On Cars, Foxes and James Morrison. He’s got an exhaustive knowledge of recording techniques but most importantly he is a great personality to have in the studio. It’s no good having the best mic's in the world if the vibe in the studio is all wrong. This is a well-deserved nomination, and just the start of many more to come, no doubt” - My Riot (Tim Bran and Roy Kerr)

“Jack made our whole experience in the studio so easy. He really knows how to deal with people and gets the best performance possible from you. His knack for tuning drums is incredible, we were in awe of him. Not only is he the best engineer but also is such a cool funny person. It was an absolute pleasure working with him and really hope to do so again" - Pa, Paul, Sorcha, Dan and Evan - Walking On Cars

"Battle Cry is stunning! It is such a pleasure to see and hear the band at peak performance. The audio is phenomenal! Absolutely the best live rock mix I have ever heard" - Frank Deganahl

"Stand by me sounds so ace. The mix has so much more life and personality compared to our original one...Brilliant work" - Sean Hennessy, Chungking

"...The stuff I've heard from Jack Ruston recently is just amazing. I like the cut of his jib" - Rich Aitkin, Nimrod Productions

"He listened to what we wanted to achieve and the way we wanted to achieve it, and then added his expert knowledge and guidance to ensure a great result. We now have the best sounding EP we have ever made as a band, and we would love the opportunity to record an album" - Beautiful Country

"Satisfactory Man kicks ass right from the get go" - Tom Robinson, BBC Radio 6 Music

"...Jack was a revelation: for the very first time in our band’s career, we had before us not only an extremely knowledgeable and professional engineer, but someone highly musical and sympathetic to the needs and vision of the recording musician – whether it be drums, bass or guitar. He made it possible, in the short time we had, not only to record but mix a kick ass EP full of blinding sounds that truly captured the sound of our band" - Paul Lisak - After The Ice

"...Jack was really able to capture the track perfectly with his mix. He kept the feel of the song and the nuances he put in the mix added to the vibe we were going for and brought new life to the chorus. He listened to what we wanted and had some great ideas for the production. We're delighted with it and would love to work with him again" - The Shruggs